Hoosier Hash: Everything Comes to Him Who Waits

—=>Syoolter Salhb—
Dedicated to the BWeneficial Wewilderment of MAankind

Fort Wayne, Ind. Sept. 1984

Everything Comes Jo Him Who Waite

Like Old Age, Gray Hair
and Type From India !

T his essay on the erratic care and feeding of a
printing type collection begins over a year ago
when it was brought to my attention that there
was an operating type foundry located in India
which was casting type such as was popular in
the United States about 1880. A letter was sent
off, via air mail, in an attempt to find out if, in
fact, this could be true. Here was a golden opp-
ortunity to acquire some of those ornamented
faces which today are almost impossible to find.

My letter explained my interest in ‘‘antique”’
type faces and if indeed they had any faces of
this style would they be kind enough to furnish
me with a specimen listing of these faces. Since
this inquiry was made blindly, I didn’t really
expect much in way of an answer. To show my
sincerity and ina fit of generosity, | enclosed
a $5.00 bill.

Almost a month later, when I had begun to
expect the worst, a cloth wrapped and sewed
package arrived. There it was! The complete
specimen book of the Gujarati Type Foundry.
All the way from Bombay, India . . . complete
down tc a registration page inscribed with my
name and a number. I was the proud possessor
of specimen book No. 50 from an edition of 384
which was printed about 1920. The exuberance
subsided somewhat when I got around to aad-
ing up the postage on this 33 pound book. Just
afew cents under $20.00.

Ina follow-up letter Mr. Gopalkrishna Modi,
a partner in the Foundry, explained that he had
the book sent air mail since sea mail could take
up to four months, depending on where a boai

was bound for in departing Bombay.

He further assured me that they could cast
any item in the book. Imagine, being able to
pick and choose from all the fabulous old time
faces and combination borders. A kid in a can-
dy store never had it so good. The letter priced
type and sized fonts, which proved to be very
generous by our fonting standards... it also
said I owed them $20US for postage. I have a
sneaky suspicion my $5 bought lunch for some
clerk in the mail room.

Six fonts were selected, a pro-forma invoice
obtained and I set off for the bank to procure
a draft. They don’t accept cash or postal mon-
ey orders; further, the draft must be payable in
Bombay. The gal at the bank assured me that
their draft on a Calcutta bank would be honor-
ed in Bombay. Not so!! It took over a year to
get the paper work squared away between the
Calcutta bank and the Foundry. Meantime I
waited for my order of type. Final payment was
made through American Express in Bombay in
less than a week, and for a smaller transfer fee.
So, if you ever plunge for Indian type, follow
the payment instructions to the letter.

These are the faces from GTF, Bombay. The
names used are theirs.

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Available
30, 36 pt. Ornamental Shaded (In 30, 36, 48)

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18 pt. Punarvasu (pied by Customs inspectors) (In 18, 24)
18 P. PUNARVASU
24 pt. Calypso (In 24 only)

24 CALYPSO TYP

Herb Harnish 4716 Ottawa Dr.. Ft. Wayne, IN 46815-3436